Where cats and anime matter

Di Gi Charat

When alien catgirl Di Gi Charat (aka Dejiko) comes to Earth, her plans of becoming a superstar are soon overshadowed by the reality of living in Tokyo. After settling for a job at an anime store, Dejiko settles into her new life, but together with sidekick Petit Charat (Puchiko), guardian Gema and rival co-worker Rabi~en~Rose, she somehow ends up on all manner of random and bizarre adventures.

When a series features a cute catgirl and takes around an hour to watch in total, there hardly seems any reason not to try it- and so it was that I delved headfirst into the world of Di Gi Charat, a place of random three minute adventures that combine everyday activities with bizarre flights of fancy. From otaku habits and dreams of rice to laser eye beams and invading monsters, everything is fair game here, and somehow it manages to be as charming as it is utterly random.

At the centre of all the commotion is Dejiko herself, a mascot turned anime character who is of course just as cute and determined as you would expect a chibi catgirl to be. Whether it’s looking after Puchiko or sustaining her ongoing rivalry with Rabi~en~Rose, Dejiko is always fun to watch- and whilst none of the protagonists exhibit any particular complexity, they are just right for a fun little throwaway series like this one.

Visually, Di Gi Charat is hardly gifted with the highest of budgets- the basic character designs are appealing, but the animation leans towards the cheap and cheerful side, with generic characters being drawn as little more than white blobs (supposedly anthropomorphised thumbs in honour of the digit most used by gamers). What music the series has is similarly limited- even the episode that is basically a music video is barely memorable.

Final Thoughts

Light and fluffy, Di Gi Charat is the popcorn of anime- not particularly outstanding or memorable, but a nice, light snack for when you’re in a lazy mood. If you need to sate a short attention span with something suitably cute and entertaining, this series is just the ticket.